(I work in a fast food sandwich chain. Our location is in a gas station, so we don’t prepare as much bread or produce as other large restaurants. Because of this, on busy days we tend to run out of certain kinds of bread.)

Customer: “Hi, can I get a [sandwich type] on cheese bread?”

Me: “Sure thing. Unfortunately, I’m all out of cheese bread at the moment. We’ve been pretty busy. Can I offer you something else?”

Customer: “So I guess that means the sandwich is free then, eh?”

Me: “Why would it be free?”

Customer: “Because you don’t have my favorite bread. That’s my favorite bread, and you haven’t got it. That’s a big problem. I’m a regular here; I own the pizza place down the road and I’m always here.”

Me: “Well, I’m sorry, sir, but we haven’t got any cheese bread at the moment. We’re in the process of baking more bread. If you want to wait a while, I can make you your sandwich with the bread you want.”

Customer: “NO! That’s unacceptable! I’m the customer and you’re supposed to serve me what I WANT! Where is your f****** manager?”

Me: “He isn’t in at the moment, sir. He’s here in the mornings.”

Customer: “Get him on the phone, NOW! I want to speak to him so I can tell him how to run a f****** business!”

Me: “You own the pizza place down the road, right?”

Customer: “That’s right! And we always have everything a customer wants!”

Me: “Let me ask you something: if a customer came in and asked for a slice of pepperoni pizza, and you were so busy that you didn’t have any, and he acted the way that you’re acting right now, would you serve him or would you kick him out?”

(He shut up after that and left. I came in the next morning to find a formal complaint from the head office, because of him. My boss ripped it up and gave me a pat on the back. I never saw that customer again.)

(I work in a popular sandwich shop on the main strip of our town. Every once in a while, we run certain deals.)

Me: “Hey there! What can I make for you this evening?”

Customer: “I want a foot-long ham. That’s part of the deal, right?”

Me: “No, just [sub #1], [sub #2], and [sub #3].”

Customer: “Okay. I’ll get a meatball.”

Me: “That’s not one of the deals.”

Customer: “It’s fine, whatever.”

(I should note that our town has quite a few homeless people. Most of them are quite friendly and always come in and buy things. One of the nicer ones is drinking a coffee at the front of the store. I finish making the sandwich and ring the guy in.)

Me: “So that’ll be [price].”

Customer: “WHAT!? I don’t want it if it’s not part of the deal! You told me it was part of the deal!”

Me: “I told you explicitly that it was not part of the deal.”

Customer: “Well I don’t even want it!”

(The customer drops the sandwich on the counter, and I turn to the regular homeless man.)

(I am eating lunch in the lobby of my store, having a sandwich and a bag of chips, when a Spanish-speaking family walks in with a three-year-old boy. As they order, he walks a few feet over to me and points at my bag of chips. I don’t speak any Spanish.)

Little Boy:*pointing at my chips, saying something in Spanish*

Me: “Sorry, sweetie, these are mine. Maybe your mommy can get you some?”

(The little boy is pointing more furiously now, repeating a phrase I don’t understand.)

Me: “I’ll let you have some of mine if your mommy says it’s okay. I don’t want to give you anything you’re not allowed to have.”

(The little boy repeats the phrase again. This time, his teenage sister, standing in line, rushes over and pulls him away.)

Sister: “I’m so sorry!”

Me: “Oh, that’s okay! If it’s okay for him to have some he can—”

(By this point she has dragged the little boy to the other side of the store, where his parents are paying. I finish my break and go into the back to put away my purse and grab my apron. My Spanish-speaking coworker rushes over to me.)